WVEB ALGEBRA: A WEB ENHANCED COLLEGE COURSE for High School Students

The State College and University System of West Virginia Central Office and the West Virginia Department of Education funded an innovative college algebra course which was offered to high school students for college credit during the 2000-01 academic year. The project increased the knowledge about educational problems faced by students in transition from high school into higher education. Students enrolled in the course showed significant gains in content test scores and had higher average course GPA's a lower DFW rate than on campus students in the same course. Student as well as high school teacher feedback indicates that the first semester pilot was a success and that the project should be continued at a larger scale. The state of West Virginia has long been a leader in curriculum reform. In 1999, the State K-12 mathematics program of study was ranked as one of the best in the nation by Education Week's Quality Counts. It is natural for math educators in the State to turn to the improvement of curriculum for students in transition between high school and college mathematics. The members of the WVEB Algebra Steering Committee and Course Design Committee are State leaders in mathematics, mathematics education, and administrative governing bodies. The initial collaborative efforts allowed the following goals to be reached: • Analysis of statewide instructional goals and objectives for College Algebra • Development of a common set of instructional goals and objectives • Comparison of the common instructional goals and objectives for College Algebra to the State Instructional Goals and Objectives for Algebra II and Precalculus • Development of State instructional goals and objectives for the concurrent enrollment course WVEB Algebra • Development of a WVEB Algebra syllabus • Evaluation and selection of appropriate instructional materials for WVEB Algebra • Development/refinement and implementation of video lectures • Initial development of online quizze